fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

Crazy high ISOs – When and why you might want to use them

by Leave a Comment

For most of what I shoot, high ISO performance isn’t really much of a concern. It’s rare that I need to go above ISO400, usually. But with today’s cameras having ISOs that go up into the multiple hundreds of thousands, what’s the point if going that high degrades the image so badly that it’s pretty much unusable?

That’s the topic that music and sports David Bergman explores in this video. Cameras and their crazy high ISO values, what’s the point of them and when and why you might want to use them.

[Read More…]

How to use scrims and strobes outdoors in bright sunlight for amazing portraits

by 2 Comments

So before my regulars start to suspect that I’ve been kidnapped and forced to write this against my will, yes this is indeed a lighting setup article that involves natural light! But don’t worry, we’ll quickly skip over the easy, beginner daylight setup and move on to the adult version that combines gels and strobes later on. So, if you’re suspiciously U.V. averse to the point where you could star in an Anne Rice novel, don’t worry, stick around to the end and I’ll have something a little more visually engaging for you there.

[Read More…]

7 ideas to take your Autumn landscape photos to the next level

by 1 Comment

Summer is finally over (for those of us who live in hot countries and hate hot weather this is a definite yeah!) and it’s pumpkin spice latte season again, otherwise known as Fall. In this video Toma Bonciu, or Photo Tom as he’s known, gives us a few tips on how you can take advantage of this time of year to take beautiful Autumn landscapes. And there’s not a decorative gourd in sight.

[Read More…]

How to break the rules like a pro and not like a beginner

by Leave a Comment

Do you enjoy sticking to rules or are you a bit of a rebel? Some rules are there to be broken and in my opinion, especially those rules in photography that we all know and love. But there’s the old adage “first learn the rules before breaking them” to take into account. This is what Daniel Inskeep of Mango Street explains in his latest video.

[Read More…]

Shooting portraits in the studio with continuous lights isn’t as intimidating as you think

by Leave a Comment

Light is key to photography. Of that there is no doubt. But typically when we shoot portraits, particularly in the studio, many of us will opt for strobes. They’re tried and tested, they give us plenty of light and you can stick some huge modifiers on them. But it’s absolutely possible to shoot portraits with continuous light, too.

Making the switch from strobes to continuous, can feel a little daunting, though. But in this video, photographer Emily Teague dumps her strobes and switches over to an array of continuous lights to shoot some portraits in her home studio to show that it’s really not all that difficult. After all, light is light.

[Read More…]

How to create clean simple product shots with just one light and a bit of AI

by Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered how you can create high-quality product shots using just one speed light? Dustin Dolby from Workphlo show us how to do just that in his latest video, and it is really very simple. I’m a huge fan of using minimal gear if you can, and I love to use just one light source when possible. As you can see from Dustin’s final images you can create a very solid looking e-commerce type image with this method.

[Read More…]

A simple seven-step process to create dramatic black and white images in Lightroom

by 1 Comment

For the longest time, I wasn’t a huge fan of digital black and white conversions. I stuck with film. Ilford FP4+ to be precise. It wasn’t a “purist” thing. I just felt that digital black and whites didn’t look as good as what I could get right out of the developing tank. Software, and specifically Adobe’s RAW processing engine, has come a long way since then, though.

Now, digital black and whites are quite commonplace. But how do you get the most out of your digital black and white conversions in Lightroom? Well, Pye Jirsa’s here with a seven-step process to help you get the best out of your shots for a nice dramatic result. He even gives you his raw file so you can follow along exactly.

[Read More…]

How to photograph violins like the Stradivarius magazine

by Leave a Comment

I get asked to photograph some pretty interesting things, and sometimes these things create some unique problems to solve. Here I’ll take you behind the scenes of a recent shoot for a violin maker and show you how I photographed this series of a violin in a way that is both a document of the instrument and also a beautiful wall poster.

[Read More…]

This hidden Photoshop feature makes sky selection even quicker

by 1 Comment

Most of us know about the amazing sky replacement AI in Photoshop, but what happens when you don’t want to actually replace the sky, just select it to make adjustments? Masking the sky can be a bit of a hassle if there are intricate parts to mask such as a bridge. We’ve shown you various techniques before to make this easier, but it seems that another extremely powerful tool in Photoshop’s latest update is hiding in plain sight and makes sky selections even quicker.

In this video, Scott Kelby shows us a powerful sky selection tool that I certainly had no idea was there, and it literally takes no time at all to mask out a complicated sky.

[Read More…]

How to create a mock-up of a framed photograph in Photoshop to help you sell more prints

by 1 Comment

Many of us might not ever need to create a mock-up of how a photograph might look in a frame on the wall. If we’re only shooting for ourselves, we’d just print it, put it in the frame and hang it. Then we’d just know what it looks like. But for family, wedding and portrait photographers looking to sell prints to clients, it can be a very valuable tool to have in your arsenal.

Being able to shoot an image of a client’s home and present them with an image that shows their images hanging on their own walls can be a great way to show them the best sizes to get and what images might look good in a set. It’s a popular technique and there are even smartphone apps to help automate the process. But in this video, Sleeklens shows us how to do it the old fashioned way. In Photoshop.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts